International Journal of Rotating Machinery (C) 2001 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.

2001, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.237-251 Published by license under

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Rotordynamic Fluid Force Moments

on an Open-type Centrifugal Compressor
Impeller in Precessing Motion
YOSHIKI YOSHIDA a*, YOSHINOBU TSUJIMOTO a, DAIZO YOKOYAMA a,
HIDEO OHASHI b and FUMITAKA KANO
aOsaka University, Engineering Science, 1-3, Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan;
bKougakuin University, 1-24-2, Nishishijuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 163-8677, Japan,"
CNara National College of Technology, 22, Yata, Yamatokoriyama, Nara 639-1058, Japan

(Received 15 May 2000; In final form 23 May 2000)

In recent years, increasing interest has been given to the rotordynamic fluid forces on
impellers, from the view point of the shaft vibration analysis. Previous experimental and
analytical results have shown that the fluid-induced forces and moments on closed-
type pump impellers contribute substantially to the potential destabilization of
subsynchronous shaft vibrations. However, to date few papers are known of the
rotordynamic fluid forces on open-type centrifugal impellers. This paper reports about
experimental investigations of the rotordynamic fluid force moments on an open-type
centrifugal compressor impeller in precessing motion. For open-type impellers, the
variations of the tip clearance and the clearance between the back shroud and casing due
to the precessing motion contribute to the rotordynamic fluid force moments.
Experiments were conducted to measure the rotordynamic fluid force moments directly
using the 4-axis sensor, and the unsteady pressure on the front and back casing wall.
In this paper, following results are obtained: (1) The fluid force moment becomes
destabilizing in the region of negative precessing speed ratio (- 0.3 < f/c < 0), at the
design flow rate; (2) At reduced flow rate, the destabilizing fluid force moments occurred
at small positive precessing speed ratio (0.2 < f/co < 0.4); (3) From the comparison of
direct measured fluid force moments with those estimated from the unsteady pressure
measured on the front and back casing walls, it was found that the destabilizing
moments in the backward precession are mainly caused by the fluid forces on the front
surface of the present impeller, where there is large clearance between the back shroud
and casing.

Keywords: Rotordynamic fluid force moment; Centrifugal impeller; Precessing motion; Self-
excited vibration; Unsteady pressure; Blade force

Corresponding author, e-mail: yoshida@me.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

237
238 Y. YOSHIDA et al.

INTRODUCTION of overhung impeller. The motion of impeller can

For turbomachinery operating at supercritical
shaft speed it is important to understand the
characters of rotordynamic fluid forces and mo-
ments on impeller which occur in response to shaft
vibration. Figure l(a) shows the typical vibration
be divided into two fundamental modes (Ohashi
et al., 1991). One is whirling motion, and the other
is precessing motion. The vibration of a rotating
impeller (rotational speed ) can be dissolved into
two modes; whirling with a constant eccentricity,
c, as shown in Figure l(b), and precession with a

Bearing I
Bearing

Impeller
(a) Vibrating motion of a overhung impeller

Precession
orbit

apex angle

Impeller Impeller

Cemer f

(b) Whirling motion (c) Precessing motion

FIGURE Motion of a overhung impeller on a vibrating shaft, and two fundamental vibration modes of an impeller.
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS
constant shaft inclination, c, as shown in
Figure l(c). In the precession, the center of the
impeller, "O", does not move but the direction of
the shaft inclination rotates with constant speed f.
For whirling motion, many experimental and
analytical data have been obtained on the rotor-
dynamic fluid forces on pump impellers, mainly at
Caltech and the University of Tokyo. It is now
widely recognized that for closed-type centrifugal
impellers the fluid forces become destabilizing for
the forward whirl generally at whirl speed ratio (/
a;) less than 0.5 (Jery et al., 1985, Bolleter et al.,
1987, and Ohashi et al., 1988). The destabilizing
forces are caused by the unsteady interaction
between the impeller and volute casing (Adkins
et al., 1988, and Tsujimoto et al., 1988A) or vaned
diffuser (Tsujimoto et al., 1988B), or by unsteady
leakage flow between impeller shroud and casing
(Childs, 1989, and Guinzburg et al., 1994). The
results are summarized in the recent textbooks of
Childs (1993) and Brennen (1994).
For precessing motion, Ohashi et al. (1991) have
shown that, from direct force measurements on a
closed-type pump impeller, the fluid force mo-
ments become destabilizing for the forward pre-
cessing speed ratio (f/) less than 0.5. This range
of destabilizing speed ratio is quite similar to that
of the whirling cases as mentioned above. Yoshida
et al. (1997) and Tsujimoto et al. (1997) investi-
gated the unsteady flow in the back shroud/casing
clearance of a precessing pump impeller. They also
observed that the fluid force moment on the back
shroud is destabilizing at small positive precessing
speed ratio. In addition, the frequency range of
destabilizing moment increases as the increase in
the leakage flow rate, caused by the increase in the
steady circumferential velocity, Vo, in the back
shroud/casing clearance.
Open-type impellers have been widely used for
high-speed and high-pressure centrifugal compres-
sors. For open-type impellers, the variation of the
tip clearance due to the shaft vibration contributes
to the rotordynamic fluid forces. Nevertheless, as
far as the authors are aware, no rotordynamic data
for these machines are available except the recent
report of Yoshida et al. (1999). Yoshida et al.,
239
reported experimentally that for an open-type
centrifugal compressor impeller in whirling motion
the fluid force becomes destabilizing at small
positive whirl speed ratio throughout all the flow
range without the interaction of a volute or vaned
diffuser. In addition, the fluid forces change
dramatically into destabilizing near the whirling
speed ratio f/=0.8 at the low flow rate. This
peak of destabilizing fluid force is caused by the
strong interaction of the whirling motion with the
rotating flow instability, similar to "rotating stall",
with propagating speed ratio fl/;=0.79.
This paper presents the results from an investi-
gation of the rotordynamic fluid force moments on
an open-type centrifugal compressor impeller in
precessing motion. For the precessing motion, the
variations of the tip clearance and the clearance
between the back shroud and casing contribute to
the rotordynamic fluid force moments. Fluid force
moments were measured directly with a force
balance device. Discussions on the unsteady pres-
sure on the front and back casing walls, and blade
to blade pressure distribution are also presented.
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
Description of Test Facility
Figure 2 shows the sketch of the mechanism used
to generate the precessing motion. The inner sleeve
supports the main shaft through two eccentric
inner bearings set to produce a pure precessing
motion. The main shaft is driven by an AC motor
with the rotational speed (w) through a universal
joint, and the outer sleeve is driven by a DC motor
controlled to run at a prescribed speed (f). This in
term is the precessing speed. The precessing ang-
ular velocity, 9t, is defined as positive when it is in
the same direction as the impeller rotation, w. The
main shaft speed was maintained at 400 + rpm,
and the precessing speed ratio (f/) was varied in
the range from -1.4 to / 1.4. Uncertainty in the
precessing speed ratio, 2/, is + 0.002.
Figure 3 shows the details around the impeller.
The test impeller is a model of an industrial
 Shaft center. Casing center
I a: apex angle
(1) Shaft
(3) Inner sleeve
(4) Outer bearin

(5) Outer sleeve

(2) Inner bearin

(6) 4-Axis force sensor (7) Impeller

O" Center of precession

FIGURE 2 Mechanism to produce the impeller precessing motion.

c:0. 19 deg.
Back shroud
r4=240 r=160 :..., :.- I_,:!. .
rz=149
Vaneless Back casing
, t, 4-|s free sensor

[ Impeller o
?2
Collector

Units
O Center of precession
FIGURE 3 Cross section of the test rig (impeller, casing and shaft).
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS
centrifugal compressor with 12 blades (Zi), inlet
blade angle 32 deg. and outlet 45 deg. at the tip
(i.e., back swept blade), outer radius (r2) 149mm,
exit width (b2) 23 mm; its non-dimensional type
number is 1.3. The impeller is equipped with a
vaneless diffuser with radius ratio r4/r2-- 1.61 and
a symmetrical collector to minimize the nonuni-
formity of exiting flow. Although the test impeller
was designed for gas, water was used as the
working fluid to facilitate the measurement of the
fluid forces. The Reynolds number (Re uzrz/u,
uz=r2co) is 3.04.0 x 106 for actual condition
(air, u2=300400m/s), and 0.92 x 106 for this
laboratory test condition (water, u2 6.2 m/s). The
effect of compressibility of actual working fluid
(gas) is neglected in the test condition (water).
Under the condition without a shaft inclination
(a 0 deg.), the normal blade tip clearance () is
constant (- mm) from the inlet to outlet. In the
present tests, the center of precessing motion was
placed at the impeller center "O", (see Fig. 3,
placed on the center line of the impeller outlet
height), and the apex angle a 0.19 deg. was used
for the precessing motion. In this condition, the
tip clearance varies in the angular direction in the
range of 0.7mm 1.3mm at the impeller inlet,
and 0.6mml.4mm at the outlet due to the
precessing motion. The clearance between the back
shroud and casing varies in the range of
19.5 mm 20.5 mm at the impeller outlet (r r2)
with the precessing motion.
In present study, we focus on the fluid force
moment caused by the forces on the front sur-
face of the impeller. For fluid force moment on
the impeller back shroud, Tsujimoto et al. (1997)
reported analytically and Yoshida et al. (1997) ex-
perimentally that the destabilizing moment caused
by the pressure on the back shroud increases
as the increase in the leakage flow through the
back shroud/casing clearance due to the in-
crease in the steady circumferential velocity, Vo.
The magnitude of the moment increases as the
decreases of the axial clearance between back
shroud and casing, H, and of the radial clearance
between impeller side plate and casing, Gap-A (see
241
Fig. 3), caused by the increase in unsteady pressure
fluctuation on the back shroud. From these
results, the back casing of the present model
compressor was designed with a wider clearance H
(= 20mm), and a wider Gap-A (= 11 mm) than
actual ones, and with no leakage flow in the
clearance to minimize the fluid force moment on
the back shroud.
Instrumentation and Data Acquisition System
The impeller is supported by the main shaft
through a rotating force balance with a 4-axis
force sensor, as shown in Figure 2. The force
balance is composed of two couples of parallel
plates and 4 strain gauges per plate to measure the
4-axis forces (2 forces and 2 force moments). The
strain signals are taken out through a slipring. The
output signals of the strain gauges are converted to
two forces and two moments components using
a transfer matrix determined from a dynamic
calibration test. Output signals are ensemble-
averaged over 32 precessing orbits based on a
trigger signal that indicates the instance when
both the direction of the shaft inclination and the
impeller rotating angle come to a prescribed orien-
tation. Force and force moment are measured
twice, that is, in air and in water at the same
rotational and precessing speed. The former meas-
urement values merely inertia force and gyro-
scopic moment of the impeller itself due to the
precessing motion, therefore, the fluid-induced
force and force moment can be obtained by sub-
tracting the former from the latter. In the
present paper we focus only on the fluid force
moments, which determines the stability for the
precessing motion. Figure 4 shows the coordi-
nate system. The r-axis is set in the direction of
maximum blade tip clearance and the t-axis per-
pendicular to it, directed by 90 deg. from the
r-axis in the direction of the impeller rotation. The
fluid force moment M is represented with its radial
(Mr) and tangential (Mr) component. Measured
,
fluid force moments are normalized as (mr, mr)=
(Mr, Mt)/Mo, where Mo Ica; I prcr22bzi2,
242 Y. YOSHIDA et al.
Precesion
orbit --"- ]
11111
.[_] Back casing
Back shroud. )
("
Impeller r RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Front casing
t the collector and the steady pressure at various
FIGURE 4 Scheme showing the rotordynamic fluid force
moments. Mr and Mt are the radial and tangential component
to the precessing motion (a: apex angle, : shaft rotational
speed, 2: precessing speed, (r, t): radial and tangential to the
precessing motion).
i= v/r/4+ b/12. In the present experiment, un-
certainty in the dimensionless fluid force mo-
ments rn and mt is -t-2.0. We should note here
that the radial component of fluid force moment,
mr, is destabilizing for the precessing motion when
rnr x (f/) > O. (i.e., rnr and f/co are both positive
or both negative.) In this case, rn x (f/) > 0, the
radial moment feeds kinetic energy to the vibrating
shaft and thus excitatory.
P1 P6 on the front casing, and R1 R4 on the
back casing in Figure 3 show the locations of
pressure taps to measure the steady and unsteady
pressure. P1 P3, P6, and R1 R4 were used to
measure the steady pressure with a manometer. In
addition to this, P1 P5 and R1 R4 were used to
measure the unsteady pressure using pressure
transducers to estimate the pressure force mo-
ments on the impeller (described later). P1 P3 on
the casing, wall are facing the impeller tip, and
R1 R4 on the back casing wall are facing the
impeller back shroud. The diameter of the pressure
taps, P1 P3, is mm and silicone oil is filled in
the cavity in front of the pressure transducers. The
pressure transducers at P4, P5 and R1 R4 were
installed flush with the casing wall. P4 and P5
are located at different circumferencial positions
(separation angle 60 deg.) to facilitate the exam-
ination of the circumferential propagation of a
rotating flow instability. The resonance frequency
of the measurement system is 2.2 kHz, while the
blade passing frequency is 80 Hz (= Z x /27r.).
Compressor Pressure Performance
Figure 5 shows the static pressure coefficient (b) at
locations on (a) front casing, and (b) back casing
wall plotted against the flow coefficient (b), under
the condition without the shaft inclination. The
design flow coefficient is ba= 0.424. From the flow
visualization through the transparent casing with
air bubble, backflow onset at the impeller inlet
was observed at b=0.32, where the pressure rise
reaches a local peak. The performance curve has a
positive slope in a range of b 0.30 0.32. For the
measurements of fluid force moments, the flow
rate was varied from b=0.285 to b=0.508. The
steady circumferential velocity on the back shroud,
Vo, was estimated from the pressure distribu-
tions in Figure 5(b). Assuming that the pressure
gradient is balanced by the centrifugal force (i.e.,
dp/dr- pV/r- pK22r), it was found that K=
Vo/r is in the range of 0.460.51 at the lo-
cations R1 R4 throughout all the flow range.
This result shows that the swirl on the back
shroud has nearly forced vortex pattern, since
there is no leakage flow in the back shroud/casing
clearance.
Fluid Force Moments on Impeller Measured
with Force Balance
Figure 6 shows the dimensionless radial, m and
tangential, mr, fluid force moments on the impeller
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS 243

0.6 Total pressure destabilizing (i.e., mr > 0) at positive precessing

O..o 1,!- StaticCl ectrpres ure speed ratio in the range 0.2 < f/a < 0.4. Figure 7
shows the comparison of the dimensionless fluid
force moments of the present open-type com-
pressor impeller with those of the closed-type
0.2
pump impeller from Ohashi et al. (1991), at the
design flow rates respectively. The present open-
0 type impeller has the destabilizing range (mr < O)
with negative small precessing speed ratio, while
the closed-type impeller has the destabilizing
-0.2
0.2 0.4 0.6 range (mr > 0) with positive small speed ratio.
Flow coefficient 0 Although the fluid force moments on the open-
type impeller are smaller than those of the closed-
(a) Front casing (PI---P3, P6) type impeller, the radial component is roughly
linear and the tangential component is quadratic
0.6 Total pressure with precessing speed ratio for both cases. As
Collector mentioned in the previous section, the clearance
Static pressure between the back shroud and casing of the present
OR1
A R2 impeller, H- 20 mm, is wider than that of the
!1 R3 closed-type impeller, q 7 ram. This wider clear-
AR4 ance H and wider Gap-A may be one of the reasons
P6 of the smaller fluid force moments on the present
open-type impeller than those on the closed-type
impeller.
The peak of the force moment occurred near [2/
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 co=0.20.3 at low flow rate 05=0.330. For the
Flow coefficient whirling motion of the present impeller, Yoshida
et al. (1999) observed that the fluid force increases
(b) Back casing (RI---R4) dramatically near the whirling speed ratio fUco
0.8 at the low flow rate (q5 < 0.32), caused by
FIGURE 5 Pressure performance of the test impeller and
steady pressure on (a) front casing wall, and (b) back casing the interaction of the whirling motion with the
wall without a shaft inclination. Pressure coefficient versus rotating flow instability at the impeller inlet,
flow coefficient 05 (uncertainty in b + 0.005, in 05 + 0.01). similar to "rotating stall", with propagating speed
ratio fZ/w=0.79. Childs (1989) predicted in his
measured directly by the force balance versus the calculation that the peak of the force on the
precessing speed ratio, f2/co, for various flow rates. front shroud occurred near fUco=0.3 0.5 due to
At the design flow rate, q5 qSd=0.424, it can be the fluid structure interaction under the whirling
seen that the radial fluid force moment, mr, on the motion. On the other hand, Tsujimoto et al.
open-type centrifugal impeller are destabilizing (1987) calculated the fluid forces on a whirling
(i.e., mr < 0) for the backward precession in the impeller in a vaneless diffuser using 2-dimensional
range -0.3 < f/w < 0. This destabilizing range of vortical flow analysis. They reported that, at low
the fluid force moment extends to the negative flow rate, the tangential fluid force becomes de-
direction of the precessing speed ratio as the stabilizing at the whirling speed ratio close to
decrease in flow rate. In addition, at lower flow the propagating speed ratio f/co=0.157 of the
rate, the radial fluid force moments become diffuser rotating stall. In the present experiment,
244 Y. YOSHIDA et al.

15
0 mr, mt 15
O mr, m
10

-15
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 I 1.5

(a) (c)

-10
-15 ..............
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
0
15
-1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0.5 1 1.5

(b) ,i=0.330 (d) ,I)=0.508

,
FIGURE 6 Dimensionless fluid force moments on the impeller, radial mr and tangential mt components versus precessing speed
ratio, 2/w, for various flow coefficients
+/-O.Ol).
=0.285, 0.330, 0.424(=a), 0.508 (uncertainty in mr, mt +/- 2.0, in /w +/- 0.002, in

Present impeller
3-D closed-type pump impeller from Ohashi et al. [1991]
3O

2O

-20
-1.5 -1 -0,5 0 0.5 1 1.5
.2o .. o"
-1,5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1.5

FIGURE 7 Comparison of the dimensionless fluid force moments on the impeller, radial mr and tangential mt components, with
those on the closed-type pump impeller, from Ohashi et al. (1991), at design flow rates respectively.
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS
we couldnt observe the rotating stall in the vane-
less diffuser nor the rotating stall in the impeller
inlet at this flow rate q5=0.330 from the meas-
urements of the pressure fluctuation at the dif-
fuser inlet, P6, and the impeller inlet, P4 and P5.
Unfortunately, full explanation of this peak force
moment near f/c 0.2 0.3 at the low flow rate
has not been obtained.
Fluid Force Moments on the Back Shroud
and Front Surface of Impeller
The fluid force moments on the back shroud, and
the front surface of the impeller are calculated
using the direct measurements of the fluid force
moment and the unsteady pressure measure-
ments on the back casing wall to obtain a better
understanding of their origin.
Unsteady pressure on the back casing wall (Ap
at locations R1, R2, R3, and R4) consists mainly of
the precessing frequency component. Figure 8(a)
shows a typical example of unsteady pressure, Ap,
measured on the back casing wall at the location
of R1, for qS=qd=0.424, and f/c=0.61. In this
figure, the horizontal axis represents the phase of
the precessing during a period, in which the
clearance gap is widest at r, and smallest at 0 and
27r. The pressure fluctuation with precessing fre-
a,
quency, denoted as Ap was obtained from the
Fourier analysis of Ap, as shown in the right of
Figure 8(a). The fluid force moments on the back
shroud were obtained from the integration of the
pressure distribution between the radii r 149 mm
and 60mm using Ap a at locations R1, 2, 3, and
R4.
Figure 9 shows the comparison of the dimen-
sionless fluid force moments on the back shroud,
m and mr, obtained by integrating the pressure
a,
distribution, Ap with the total moments on the
impeller, mr and mr, measured directly by the
force balance, at =qSd=0.424. In this figure,
theoretical moments on the back shroud (from
Tsujimoto et al., 1997) are also shown. It is
245
calculated under the conditions of no leakage
flow, K= 0.5, and no resistance at Gap-A. Under
these conditions, the calculated radial com-
ponent is 0 for all values of f/c, and the tan-
gential component is 0 at f/a=-0.5 and + 1.5
with the maximum at f/co= +0.5. It can be
found that the tangential fluid force moment,
mt, shows almost the same character as the cal-
culated moment with precessing speed ratio.
The radial fluid force moment, mr, on the back
shroud is nearly 0 in the range -0.3 < f/a < 0,
however the radial fluid force moment, mr, on the
impeller directly measured by the force balance
becomes negative (i.e., destabilizing). Further-
more, the influence of the flow rate upon the fluid
force moment on the back shroud was very small.
To obtain the understanding of the fluid force
moments on the "front surface" of the impeller,
mr" and mt" the fluid force moments on the back
shroud, m and me, were subtracted from the direct
measured moments on the impeller, mr and mr, at
the same test conditions. Here, we call the sur-
face of the impeller except the ""back shroud" as
the front surface". Figure 10 shows the dimen-
sionless fluid force moments, m " and mr, on the
front surface of the impeller estimated by the
above method, versus the precessing speed ratio
for various flow rates. A solid line, mtgyro in
Figure 10(c) shows the gyro moment of the fluid in
the impeller due to the precession. This mtgyro is
agree fairly well with the tangential moment, m
so that for the design flow rate some fraction of
the fluid force moment on the front surface of the
impeller is caused by the inertia of the fluid in the
impeller. The radial component, m on the front
surface of the impeller becomes destabilizing
(m < 0) for the backward precession with a de-
crease in flow rate. This tendency is similar to
the radial component, mr, on the impeller. From
these results it can be concluded that the destabi-
lizing moment (mr < 0) in backward precession is
mainly caused by the forces on the front surface
of the impeller due to the variation of the tip
clearance, or the blade channel height.
246 Y. YOSHIDA et al.

V=d=0.424, /O----0.61
Location R1
0.02 0.02

Precessing phase 2 0 Precessing phase 2

(a)/Cp on back casing wall

0.02
r
Blade passing

0.1
r ]] Location P l
0 Precesslng phase 2

-0.1
0 Precessing phase 2

(b) Cp on front casing wall

Smax
0.I
0 Precessing phase 2
FIGURE 8 Typical wave from of unsteady pressure ACp, (a) on back casing wall at R1 and (b) on front casing wall at P1, for
b ba 0.424, Ct/w 0.61. AC shows the component of frequency f, and AC
shows the plot of the amplitude of the blade passing
fluctuation (uncertainty in ACp + 0.005, in b + 0.01, in f/w= -t- 0.002).

m. m Total moment on the impeller

O mr, O mt Moment on the back shroud
Theoretical moment on the back shroud
from Tsujimoto et al. [1997]
15
lO
o,

-lO .[1
-15
-1.5 -t -0.5 0 0.5 1.5 1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1.5

[=a=o.424
FIGURE 9 Comparison of the dimensionless fluid force moments on the back shroud, radial m and tangential m components,
with moments on the impeller, mr and mr, for design flow rate b bd= 0.424 (uncertainty in m, mr-- 4- 2.0, in f/w= + 0.002).
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS 247

mtgyro
Gyro moment on the fluid
in the impeller

15
0 mr", mr" 0 mr",
10

"10
"15
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1.5 -1.5-1-0.5 0 0.5 1.5
/o
(a) ([r0.285 (c) Wd=0.424

15
0 mr" 0 HIrV mt

.-" 0
:--.,,.
-15
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1.5 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1..5

(b) =0.330 (d) (I)=0.508

versus precessing speed, Ft/co, for various flow coefficients

/o 4- 0.002).
,
FIGURE 10 Dimensionless fluid force moments on the front surface of the impeller, radial m and tangential m components,
=0.285, 0.330, 0.424 (=d), 0.508 (uncertainty in 4-0.01, in

Force Moments on Front Surface of Impeller During one period of the precession, the number
Estimated from Unsteady Pressure of blades passing by the pressure transducer on the
front casing is Zi ]/1. For the condition shown
Two simple estimations of the force moment on in Figure 8(b), twenty waves (Z; ]/] 19.7)
the front surface of the impeller are employed. The
due to the blade passing are clearly observed. The
first is the integration of the pressure distribution
amplitudes of the component with blade pass-
on the front casing wall. In this case the forces
ing frequency, denoted by Ap and used for the
resulted from the pressure distribution and the
estimation of the blade loading, were obtained
momentum transfer at the impeller inlet and
from the reading of peak-to-peak values for each
outlet, and the rate of change of fluid momentum blade passing, as shown in the lower right of
in the impeller are neglected. The second is the
Figure 8(b). On the other hand, the pressure
integration of the blade forces evaluated from the fluctuation at the precessing frequency, denoted
pressure difference across the blade measured on
by Ap and used for the evaluation of the casing
the front casing wall. This corresponds to the non-
pressure force moment, was obtained from the
uniform blade loading model in axial flow
Fourier analysis of Ap shown in the upper right of
turbine proposed by Thomas (1958) and Alford
Figure 8(b).
(1965).
248 Y, YOSHIDA et al.

For the casing pressure force moments evalu-
ation, the fluid force moments (mp, m")tp are
obtained by integrating the pressure distributions
Apa from the blade leading edge to trailing edge
on the casing wall. The pressure distributions are
interpolated and extrapolated from Lkp a at P1,
P2 and P3. For the blade load evaluation, it is
assumed that Ap represents the pressure differ-
ence across the blade at the tip, and the pressure
difference is proportional to the square of its
radius from the tip to hub. The force moments
(mr m")tb are estimated by integrating the assumed
pressure differences on the three segments of the
blade using/kp at P1, P2 and P3 taking account
of the back swept blade.
Figure 11 shows the comparison of the esti-
mated force moments (a) (m, mtp " ), and (b) (mrb,
" sure distribution on the casing wall. Therefore, a
mt ) with the moments on the front surface of
the impeller (rn m"), for the design flow rate
(0 4d- 0.424). The estimated moments (mp,
m) and (rn, rn) are not in good agreement
with (m, m). Thomas (1958) and Alford (1965)
explained the destabilizing mechanism in axial
flow turbines from the blade loading nonunifor-
mity due to the change in tip clearance. Yoshida
et al. (1999) reported that for the whirling open-
type centrifugal impeller some fraction of the
fluid force on the impeller is caused by the
nonuniform pressure distribution on the casing
wall. However, the present results suggest that
the fluid force moment on the front surface of the
tested impeller cannot be approximated by the
nonuniform blade loading nor nonuniform pres-

0 m", mr" 0 mtp, lilt"

15
10 , o

"10 -0
"15 5
1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1.5 -1.5 -I -0.5 0 0.5 1.5

(a) mrp" mtp" 01=d=0.424)

5
0
5

(b) mrb, mt" (l=d---0;424)

FIGURE 11 Comparison of the dimensionless fluid force moments on the front surface of the impeller, radial m and tangential m
components with (a) moments, mp and mtp, estimated from component of unsteady pressure on the front casing, and (b) moments,
mrb" and mtb", estimated from the pressure tifference across the blades, for the design flow
/ + o.oo2). =
0.424 (uncertainty in -+- 0.01, in
 FLUID FORCE MOMENTS
different flow model is needed to explain the
rotordynamic fluid force moment on open-type
centrifugal impellers. More detailed experiments
and sophisticated analyses are necessary to esti-
mate the fluid force moment on open-type centri-
fugal impellers in the future.
CONCLUSIONS
From the experimental results and discussions, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) For an open- type centrifugal compressor
impeller, the radial fluid force moment be-
comes destabilizing for the backward preces-
sing motion in the range -0.3 < f/cv < 0 at the
design flow rate (b=0.424). This destabiliz-
ing range of the fluid force moment extends to
the negative direction of the precessing speed
ratio as the decrease in flow rate (q5 0.285
0.330).
(2) At lower flow rate (b=0.2850.330), the
radial fluid force moment becomes destabiliz-
ing also for the forward precessing motion in
the range 0.2 < f2/a < 0.4.
(3) From the direct measured moments and
the unsteady pressure measurements on the
back casing, it was shown that the destabiliz-
ing fluid force moments on the impeller at
negative precessing speed ratio (-0.3 < f/
c < 0) are mainly caused by the forces on
the front surface of the present impeller, where
there is a large clearance in the back casing
wall.
(4) The force moments on the front surface of the
impeller estimated from the unsteady pressure
on the front casing wall, and the pressure dif-
ference across the blade dont agree with the
direct measured force moments.
(5) More detailed experiments and sophisticated
analyses are needed to explain the fluid force
moments on open-type centrifugal impel-
lers in precessing motion, and get more general
conclusion.
249
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude for the
effort of Mr. Isamu Fukushima in support of this
program as an undergraduate project at Osaka
University. The authors would like to thank Gas
Turbine Society of Japan for permission to publish
this paper that was presented in the 7th interna-
tional Gas Turbine Congress 1999, Kobe. The
present study was partly supported by the Ministry
of Education, Science, Sports and Culture through
the Grant-in Aid for Developmental Scientific
Research.
NOMENCLATURE
b2 impeller axial width at outlet 23 mm
(see Fig. 3)
coefficient of unsteady pressure Ap,
normalized by p(r2) 2
coefficient of unsteady pressure Ap a,
normalized by p(rza) 2
coefficient of unsteady pressure
normalized by p(r2cv)
f frequency (Hz)
Gap-A clearance between impeller side plate
and casing 11 mm (see Fig. 3)
H clearance between back shroud
and casing (normal clearance
20mm)
moment of inertia of a disk with ra-
dius r2, thickness, b2 pTrrb2 i2, where
i= r/4 + b22/12
velocity ratio (= Vo/rcv)
components of fluid force moment;
radial (r) and tangential (t) component
(see Fig. 4)
mr, mt
where I p:rr22bi i=,
reference value of moment =Iccv
r22/4
dimensionless fluid force moment
+ bl 12
on impeller, radial (r) and tangen-
tial (t) components, normalized by
Mo
250 Y. YOSHIDA et al.
m r, m dimensionless fluid force moment on
back shroud, radial (r) and tangential
(t) components, normalized by Mo
II II
dimensionless fluid force moment on
front surface of impeller, radial (r) and
tangential (t) components, normalized
by Mo
It
mrp, mtp dimensionless fluid force moment due
,
to pressure distribution on casing wall:
Ap radial (r) and tangential (t)
components, normalized by Mo
II II
mrb, mtb dimensionless fluid force moment due
,
to pressure difference across the blades:
Ap radial (r) and tangential (t) com-
ponents, normalized by Mo
mtgyro gyro moment of the fluid in the impeller
due to the precession
pressure
P Pump-Impeller-Shroud Surfaces for Rotordynamic Cal-
Ptl total pressure at inlet
unsteady pressure
amplitude of unsteady pressure on
casing wall at precessing frequency
peak-to-peak amplitude of unsteady
pressure on casing wall at blade passing
frequency
radius
(r,t) radial and tangential axis (see Fig. 4)
2 impeller outlet radius 149mm (see
Fig. 3)
blade tip clearance (normal clearance
S- lmm)
time
mean circumferential velocity in the
clearance between back shroud and
casing
number of impeller blades 12
Zi
apex angle of precessing motion 0.19
deg.
radius of circular whirl orbit
fluid density
flow coefficient-flow rate/(27rrb2)
pressure coefficient (p-Ptl)/p(rzco) 2
precessing angular velocity
angular velocity of rotating stall
angular velocity of impeller
precessing speed ratio or whirling speed
ratio
propagating speed ratio of rotating stall
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